I walked because I had dished out so much ‘chat’ to Paranavitana that it was only fair that I ‘practice what I preach’ © Getty Images

It’s a day short of a month since I last blogged. I had written a piece to finish off the Sri Lanka tour the day after I got back to the UK and somehow lost 700 words into the ether. It frustrated me, a lot, to the point where I just couldn’t be bothered writing. It was a strange response really, especially as I have enjoyed writing the blogs even when I’ve been tired, sore and after we’ve been defeated.

I’m back blogging and will aim to get a couple out a week, albeit smaller pieces as I’m not playing cricket for a while. It’s break time. It’s time for some time off bowling; no more warm ups for a while. I say ‘warm ups’ because you’ll find that warm ups are the part of the day that most cricketers dislike the most. Towards the end of the season, it is often counted down not in playing days but by warm ups remaining. I’ll let you in on another secret; we actually don’t mind the rain, and some guys are actually different people because of it.

It’s been nine days since I last bowled, a Championship match, played vs Kent in Canterbury, and I’ve enjoyed every day of it. This was my last game for Leicestershire this season; there was still one more Championship match and a Pro40 left. In the original plan with Leicestershire County Cricket Club (LCCC) I wasn’t supposed to be playing after the Sri Lankan tour. Between us we sorted out a two-week extension that took in two Champo’s and two Pro40’s. I had already booked a week’s holiday with my wife, which took in the last couple of matches and thought it best if I keep those dates for our holiday rather than another week with Leicestershire.

In my last match I didn’t bother the scorers much, at all. Made a duck and then wheeled through 21 overs without a wicket. I actually bowled really well and was especially happy to finish a long season with that kind of pace and consistency. I just didn’t take any wickets; there was a dropped catch, but they happen. We finished that match with a draw, a pretty good result from the position we got ourselves in.

I should touch on the SL tour and how that finished. I left the night the Test finished, a group of five of us, Test only players for this tour and headed off at 10pm. After a couple of beers in the bar, a meal and then a quick pack it was off back to England for me.

We lost the second Test, but you already know that, but we put up more of a fight than maybe some would have predicted. It was improbable that we’d successfully chase down what SL left us and the only real way forward was the draw. And that was especially the thought going into the last day; can we survive the day with just four wickets in hand? We did better than we thought, so well in fact that, even in my head, and that can be a pretty dark place, I could maybe even see us reach the nearly 500 target we were set.

I was batting with Dan (Vettori) and a number flashed up on the big screen -144. Don’t ask me why, but I know that’s a square number (12*12) and it sort of come to me that between Dan and I, however silly it might sound, we could put together 12 little partnerships of 12; I’d get a couple of singles, maybe a boundary here and there (probably an edge, but who cares) and Dan would contribute more frequently and substantially. We had maybe put on 30 at the time and it was something that I tried to keep going in my head. The only problem was that my scoring had dried up. I didn’t have a clue on how to score off Rangana Herath. I could keep him out, defend and defend, but to score off him, for me safely, was near on impossible; so I just kept keeping him out, “Dan’ll have to score a double-ton to win it!”

In our partnership of 69 I scored off 75 balls in 77 minutes. This was easily my best innings. Not my highest score but it was what I had been trying to do for a long time. I had a batting target to face 50 balls; I knew if I got to 50 balls the partnership would be at least 50 and the time batted can only be good for the team, no matter how many runs I score, or don’t score! This target I have mentioned in previous blogs but not quite revelled. It’s not really anything big but just a target I’ve been trying to reach. And I got there.

My innings wasn’t quite without controversy though. Here’s an excerpt of my dismissal in Cricinfo:

“104.5 - Herath to O'Brien, no run, lunges forward to defend and the ball appears to land just before silly point fielder Paranavitana who takes it and appeals for a catch ... umpires confer .. Sanga has a chat with the umpires who go upstairs .. and verdict is not out ... ... replays suggested it bounced clearly ...”

Paranavitana appealed and no one else around him even moved. [Kumar] Sangakkara who had as good a view as me, Dilshan (at slip) the same view too. No one else went up; Paranavitana appealed again, and again. Throwing the ball up and continuing on. I got pretty angry at him; I said a few words towards him suggesting that he shouldn’t appeal. He actually copped some abuse from me; I got proper stuck into him. The ball bounced about a foot in front of him, clearly and he continued on with the appeal. Sanga and Dilshan both asked me if it bounced and I said “yeah, about a foot short”. Umpires went upstairs and “not out”. I continued to ‘chat’ to Paranavitana, as I said, I was angry about him appealing for something that was clearly not out.

And this was the reason why, when I got the faintest of edges on a ball from Herath, that I walked. Often I will look up at the umpire to see his finger go up; as there was an innings in the past when I walked for one I thought I nicked, but actually didn’t; so, most of the time I leave it to the umpire. I walked because I had dished out so much ‘chat’ to Paranavitana that it was only fair that I ‘practice what I preach’. I’m not sure the finger would have been raised but I knew I had done the right thing. Ask me though if there were only 20 runs left what would I have I done... I don’t know if I could answer that one!

I was gutted to be out, proud of how long I’d been out there, proud to have put on a partnership of 69 with Dan, proud to have got Dan through to his 100 (not quite like what I did to Jesse Ryder in Hamilton vs India) but so damn disappointed to be walking off the park.

So here we are, a month on from that Test, and I’m back in Matlock. I’ll be here in the UK for another couple of weeks with one lovely week’s holiday under my belt and two to go. Catch you soon...

Time for another catch up..

I didn’t quite get out the post I wanted to last week during the Essex match for which I do apologise for. I said I would and I didn’t get them done; I’m starting to wonder how I have managed to get my blogs done after a day’s play during the nine Tests that I have blogged through. Somehow I have got each day's play round up and thoughts down and got it posted before the next day’s play has started. I have to admit it’s getting harder to keep it fresh and keep it interesting, although I’m sure you’ll let me know if what I’m blogging isn’t up to scratch. I’ve got a couple of things I want to start doing during this two Test tour to Sri Lanka, and with Suneer’s (a guest blogger) thoughts on other things happening in world cricket, I’m pretty sure I be able to keep it fresh, interesting and most importantly a good entertaining insight into this world and my head.

We (Leicestershire) had a Pro40 match at Northants last Sunday, which I quickly previewed in my last blog. I had been looking forward to this match for a bit as the pitch there is one that I knew would suit me. The pitch has been, over the last couple of summers, a belter, a good deck with a bit of pace and bounce. Unfortunately, I only got to bowl one over on it and I was maybe lucky to have even managed to get that one in. Rain was forecast and the rain came. We lost the toss and we were put in and got off to a great start; Allenby (who has been in brilliant form throughout the summer) and Cobb (a current England U19 player) both scored 43 in two completely different manners. Allenby has been the ‘bully’ in the past, this time it was Cobb who took the sword. We sat in the changing room, on the edge of our seats watching a young confident player play some audacious shots, one in particular, a straight bat through wide mid on from a length that probably should have been worked to square leg for a single; seriously one of the best shots I have ever seen, that’s no hyperbole either!

We were on and off a couple of times and ended up losing a couple of wickets at tough times with the stop start nature of a rain affected innings. It’s always tough batting first when the innings is interrupted because a good score is a mystery and it was a good partnership by New and Dippenaar at the death that put a handy score on the board. More rain then came and it cut the chase to a 17 over, 122 run affair. We got into the 5th over before the rain finished us off for the day and both teams shared a rained off point each.

I then turned into an Uncle for the first time. My ‘big sister’ had a healthy eight and a bit pound boy. Happy days, he’s a beauty and got a great ‘appeal’ on him already!

Next up was Essex in a Championship match; I trained really well for this one and had one of the best bowls of my summer in the nets the day before the game. I felt great and a small change I have been making to my thumb on the ball was working and my release was as good as ever. Unfortunately this form in the nets didn’t quite transfer to the middle after we won the toss and bowled first. I bowled ok but as I so often write; ‘it’ wasn’t just quite there. Whatever ‘it’ is, I didn’t have it. We had lost the first day to rain, a complete wash out so after winning the toss the pressure was on to take wickets and get the game moving forward. I picked up one early, again with a yorker, and if you’ve been reading my weekly updates, you’ll know that they’ve been really successful for me in the last three weeks here. If you’ve seen any of the Sri Lankan-Pakistan series you would have seen that the yorker has been a good weapon. Obviously then I needed to make it more of a part of my ‘red’ ball bowling plans and so far it’s going great. And that wicket was the only one I picked up in the innings. I had a catch dropped but nothing else really happened for me. I missed the rhythm I had had in the last couple of weeks and in reflection I tried too hard to get it back. I need to just let it come sometimes, relax, breath and just run in and bowl. I’ve spoken about this before a couple of times before too and it is probably one of the hardest things for me to work on. Technical things, no problems, I can feel where my body is and can generally fix those things by myself, but the ability to just drop it all from my head and to run in and bowl is hard.

I didn’t bowl badly, I just set high standards for myself and as my own worst critic I am very hard to impress; which is part of the above problem. I know I can’t bowl the perfect ball every time and I have to accept that more than I do.

This match also saw my first ever visit to the Umpires room for anything but picking a new ball. I got in trouble for the first time on the park. I’m no angel, sure, but I’ve always managed to stay within the guidelines and rules set. Not this time though. And it happened when I was batting, is that irony!? I’ve been working hard on my batting and I’ve got the bruises to prove it, I’m always doing stuff I hate in the nets, trying to get better at the parts of batting no one likes. So when I was given out caught behind on a surface that I felt great on and was really looking forward to batting for as long as I could, I was a little miffed (well, maybe miffed is an understatement!). I didn’t hit it, I don’t know if I can actually say that, but I have. The strange thing is, I thought it had bowled me. Good length ball, just swung away a touch, I missed it and heard that horrible sound, the ball clipping the off stump. My head went down straight away and I then realised they were appealing; what for??? It had bowled me?? I looked up at the Umpire and he raised his finger. He doesn’t need to raise his finger for a ‘bowled.’ I looked at the stumps, the bail hadn’t come off. It was at this point I made the mistake of showing ‘dissent.’ I hung around, I didn’t walk off like I should, I then told the Umpire that the ball had clipped the stump. I’m also not allowed to do that either. I didn’t swear or show any real anger and I’m guessing that is what helped me to not be penalised greater.

Lesson learnt! I didn’t like the feeling of ‘getting in trouble’ and am disappointed that my clean record has been tarnished. It was, though, fair that I be reprimanded for my actions, I have no problems taking my medicine if I’ve done wrong. I did get in a bit of bother for this blog though going back a bit(http://iainobrien.co.nz/node/67); that was the blog that a couple in the media with nothing to write about picked up and ran and grossly blew out of proportion my comments about the crowd. Oh and then there was the dismissal of Ponting at Adelaide that the media again reported stuff that wasn’t there which I covered in this post: http://iainobrien.co.nz/node/60.

So hopefully that’s the end of that, my first real on-field digression, I’m not saying that it won’t happen again, but I’m pretty sure that I’ll react better next time anything like this happens.

Next time you’ll hear from me I’ll be in hot and humid Colombo with more regular updates. Hopefully it’ll stay interesting and I’ll keep my nose out of trouble!

Right then, where to start...

I had a really good couple of days in Prague with my parents who have come over to visit my sister and me. We walked miles and saw virtually everything there was to see there. A great city for sightseeing and enjoying a cheap beer. There was a small break in our schedule that allowed the quick trip away and it was nice to spend some time with Mum and Dad and also away from the game for a couple of days; after getting back there was time for a good training session and then into another Championship match against Middlesex.

Last time we played Middlesex we held on for a very good draw after being in some trouble. A really good maiden hundred from James Taylor made sure we didn’t lose. The team we faced then, at Southgate, was, in the batting department anyway, stronger. Strauss (England) and Hughes (Australia) opened up and put on around 180 for the first wicket; they batted brilliantly and I bowled poorly in this game, no rhythm and no direction. Both these two are facing off in the Ashes and that was a good thing for us.

After looking at the wicket I was hoping for a toss win and have the feet up watching the batsmen do the work. It looked a good deck to bat on, and I’m still undecided as to if it was. Dippenaar lost the toss and we were having a bowl. I’m never too disappointed to have a bowl first up in a four-day or Test match; if it’s going to do anything for you, it’ll be now, so I wasn’t too displeased to be ‘rocking and rolling’ first up. And we got off to a pretty good start. We controlled runs with some pretty good bowling and after nine overs we had a breakthrough. I probably don’t bowl enough yorkers in ‘red’ ball matches, I have been bowling them well with the ‘white’ ball so I thought I’d try more, and it worked first time up. It wasn’t quite the best yorker I’ve ever bowled; it hit Compton just below the knee on the full dead in front. Either way my first wicket of the match and a really good start to my birthday.

Next in was Shah, this was the guy I felt was going to hold the key to the Middlesex innings. I wanted to get him early and make some big inroad. The previous night I had had a really good evening with a mate from the team, not currently playing, but he’s got a few good ideas on some of the batters around. We came up with a plan for Shah and I tried it right from ball one; it didn’t quite work. It was if Shah had been sitting with us when we were discussing the plan. First ball, smash, four. Second ball, smash, four. Not what I was hoping for. The track didn’t quite suit that style of bowling so I was going to have to go back to a standard plan. Smash, four of a good ball. That’s 12 off my over, damn. That sort of start can really propel a batter onto a great innings and it was now very important that we drag it back, bowl tight and play the waiting game.

Next over I went back to bowling line and length to Shah. I played a little with where I delivered it on the width of the crease and had success. I got him to leave one that nipped back in just a little and it clipped the top of the off stump. That’s where I should bowl, that perfect delivery which is so elusive.

The day continued like that for us, wickets and boundaries. Sure it’s nice picking up wickets regularly but we gave away too many runs at the same time. Something we would really have to address in the second innings. We bowled Middlesex out for 159, and on my birthday, I picked up six wickets. That was my second six wicket haul in as many games, the first time I have done this. I got my action right, the rhythm, the direction and the results came. A very happy boy went back up to the changing room to put my feet up for the afternoon.

It wasn’t quite like that, the wickets kept tumbling and by the end of the day I had my pads on. I don’t think the pitch was that bad looking back; it was a ‘patience’ pitch, wait for a bad ball and put it away, and in between times keep the good ones out.

A young lad, Finn impressed me bowling for Middlesex, a tall kid with a strong action and good pace caused our boys some problems. He wheeled through 24 first innings overs, a real good effort for good reward. Our tail did a great job in grabbing a very handy 86-run first innings lead. Cobb and I put on 50 for the eighth wicket and then a 49-run tenth-wicket partnership between Harris and Gurney really added some salt to the wounds. As I said in my last blog ‘any first innings lead is good’ and this one had gone from being slight to something that we were hoping to pick up four wickets before Middlesex would get in front.

It all didn’t quite go to that plan though; it went a whole lot better. We ended up only bowling them out for 91. We needed seven to win; brilliant. This innings we bowled a whole lot better, we kept their scoring to just 2.25 runs per over and this pressure brought us wickets. We dried up the boundaries, bowled really good lines and reaped the rewards; four for Harris and three for me. Both of us were chasing milestones heading into the 3rd day. I had one wicket, needing three of the four to pick up four and therefore 10 for the match, which would have been just the second in my career. Harris was after the same, three of the four for a five wicket innings. We cancelled each other out by both picking up two and wrapping up the innings like a good bowling attack should.

A very good win for us and the first Championship win of the season. It was great sitting down to lunch after already having a cheeky celebratory beer in the changing room with the lads.

I missed out on the ODI and Twenty20 team that is to continue the tour of Sri Lanka after the Tests. I am pretty disappointed about this. I was in the last ODI eleven to play and am now not in the 15 for the series. I asked why I had missed out and got the reason that I had been too expensive and I couldn’t really argue with that too much. The the only thing is that, in the last ODI series, apart from Dan and Millsy, we all were expensive. I just have to keep working to get myself back into that team, there is a Champions Trophy coming up which I want to be a part of and hopefully after a good Test series in Sri Lanka I’ll have done enough to get myself back into the team.

I have a Pro40 match tomorrow at Northants, a pitch that I had a good look at last summer during a match we played there in between the 2nd and 3rd Tests, although not playing that game, it looked a real good surface. Then starting on Tuesday a Championship match vs Essex at home. It’ll be a busy week and I’ll get a couple of more posts out during the week. You can hold me to it!!

Right then, currently in Prague in the Czech Republic. I'm just having a quick couple of nights here with my parents who came over to England to visit myself and my sister. I thought a good taste of European sightseeing was in order, so Prague it is. It's been a great couple of days and even the weather has played ball; today was supposed to be heavy showers, only a couple of light ones turned up later in the evening. Brilliant!

And as it's only a quickie I just thought I'd have my two cents worth on the upcoming Ashes series:

If England can keep their bowling attack on the park, I think they go into the series as favourites. Two very good spinners who have both won matches for England plus some very much in-form quicks who swing it, especially Jimmy Anderson who has won matches for England. So there, my pick is England and if I had to pick a score line: 2-1 with two draws, one rain effected.

And like that, I’m out of here. I’d be interested in your views for the series. Oh, and yeah, of course I’m disappointed in missing out on the ODI team for the Sri Lanka tour, very disappointed. But that’s for the next blog! And don't forget to add me on 'Twitter' – iainobrien.

Since I was last here I’ve played three T20’s and currently in a four-day Championship match for Leicestershire.

We had a day off after the Lancashire T20 and played Nottingham at Trent Bridge, a ground that I’ve played well at in the past, well the one time I played there I went ok. We got a pasting from Notts, we only scored 120 odd and that’s never enough to defend. It was not a great effort from us; that meant that we would have to win our last two matches to reach the quarter finals.

Home game vs Yorkshire, in what turned out to be Michael Vaughan’s last match, a game that we probably should have lost. We scored 160 batting first and Yorkshire got to roughly 100 without loss; 60 off 10 with 10 wickets in hand. They should have cruised it, and didn’t. We ended up scrapping it out and wining by 11 runs in the end. A really amazing result and that just shows that this is one very silly game at times. The crowd at Grace Road was brilliant, an almost full house, vocal and energetic and they were rewarded with a great win from the jaws of defeat.

It was Durham at home next, a win for either team would put them into the quarters; and it wasn’t going to be our day. We just haven’t been consistent enough throughout the whole team. Jimmy Allenby, throughout the T20’s, has been brilliant, he’s been our stand-out player. No one really came close to replicating what he did. There were moments of brilliance, but not enough to get us through to the next stage. I bowled ok, stats maybe don’t quite tell the whole story. I had a really good day at Liverpool and then the three next games I felt like I bowled well without being great. You need luck sometimes and I didn’t get it. That’s fine, I am happy with what I’ve learnt, my ability to bowl yorkers has got a lot better and the thinking process behind one-day and T20 cricket is a whole lot better than it was before.

Which brings us to this championship match against Derbyshire at Derby. I spent quite a bit of time training with a couple of the Derbyshire lads last summer before I headed to India and then Bangladesh on the Test tour. I had bowled out in the middle and had enjoyed the pitch and was looking forward to a good bowling deck. We lost the toss and were put in on a deck that we were going to bowl first on as well. As a championship team we have not scored enough runs in the first innings, we had a great first day; 348-5 after being put in was a great result. Unfortunately we didn’t kick on to the giddy heights of 500 and were dismissed for 412. I contributed just five of that in a rather poor display from me; really angry with myself in how I got out. I’m better than that; I nicked a shortish ball through to the keeper kind of fending it away from my body; really not good enough.

My chance to get back into red ball-bowling, the different pace of the game, the different altitudes from batters, bowlers, different field positions and working to different plans. I just wish I could have bowled as well on day two as I had felt going into it. I chose to bowl downwind, not a big wind, but still it was there and felt great to have it at my back. It’s probably fair to say that I am not as good a downwind as I am upwind, and it was no different here. I’m trying to get better at other parts of my game that I need to be better at to be a more ‘whole’ player. I bowled both sides of the wicket, my lengths were not bad, just my lines. I did have it swinging nicely, except it was into the two left-hand opener’s pads. Grrrr!

Day three was a better one for me, although again my downwind spell, first up, wasn’t as good as I should be. Dipps came up to me and asked me if I wanted a go up wind, “why not, I can’t be any worse.” Three overs before lunch and I found what I had been looking for; a) some nice rhythm and b) a wicket. It was good to finally have one in the wicket column and go to lunch feeling a bit better about things. At lunch I said to Dipps I wanted to keep going, he had already asked Jimmy Allenby to start up into it. I wanted to keep bowling, do my job and take a couple more wickets. I ended up with six for the innings, all in one spell, with lunch in the middle, into the wind, and did the job I am here to do.

It was a better feeling going home last night with a good bag of wickets but I still have to work on my downwind rhythm and control. Not much chance of play today to finish off this match which was set up for an interesting last days play ...

	Took the risk and it paid off © Getty Images

What a great feeling it is to be back playing after so many net sessions.

During the World Twenty20 I think I netted every day bar two; one because my back was tight and the other was a day off. Netting is fine when you get to go out and put it into play. Netting is very hard work when you want to play, but can’t get selected. It felt like that after my six balls against Scotland.

I got to play yesterday for Leicestershire over in Liverpool against Lancashire. I had one net with the Leicester lads on Friday; I got in and bowled hard for around 40 minutes. I felt good and knew I didn’t need much more before playing yesterday. I also wanted to spend some time away from cricket, so I cleared it with our coach, Tim Boon, so that I could miss Saturday’s net session and have the weekend off. Ended up being a very good weekend away with the wife and got to see some amazing animals at the West Midland Safari Park, well worth a visit (loved the Cheetahs!).

I made sure I got to the ground early so that I could do a bit of extra bowling before we started warm-ups proper. Just on the side of the block I got into some work, testing out the body, working on part of my load up and getting into the grove. I warmed up really well here and got to full pace pretty quickly, thanks also to a lovely day in Liverpool.

It had been rumoured last week that it was going to be a sell-out – it was for real. At a really lovely ground, Aigburth, Liverpool, with loads of temporary seating set up it wasn’t long till I couldn’t see a spare seat. Well, that’s a bit of a fib as the queues to the beer tent were massive. It was going to be a fun afternoon with an excited and expectant crowd.

We won the toss and batted first. No real reason, it just looked a good deck and we wanted to bat first. We got off to a great start, 66 for the first wicket; some real good hitting from Jimmy Allenby set us on our way to a possible score of around 160. His form in this competition has been brilliant. We didn’t get to 160 though, after being 96-1 in the 12th we didn’t kick on to what would have been, on the deck, a very competitive score. Lancashire bowled well in the second half of their bowling effort and pulled us back to just 146; the unfortunate thing though, for them, was that it showed us how to bowl on the surface. It was a tough deck to score rapidly on if you bowled in a very containing manner, as opposed to bowling good lengths in the theory that good bowling and wickets will stop the runs. This was one thing I had learnt from Kyle Mills during the World Twenty20; stopping them scoring the big runs will often bring the wickets anyway.

I bowled the third over and it didn’t start quite as I hoped; second ball sailed clean over the midwicket boundary. I went straight into damage control for the over - get the guy hitting the runs off strike, Croft in this case - and bowl to the other guy and try to limit the blow to as few more runs as possible. It worked and I also picked up a wicket with a ball I held cross-seam that just bounced a little more than it would have normally, an easy catch to midwicket. I wouldn’t say I felt amazing, but it felt good to be back out playing and doing the things I had been practicing so much.

My next over was better, apart from my first ball. It didn’t have enough on it in terms of energy and it went back past me at a rate of knots off Flintoff’s bat. I stuck a leg, and kind of a hand out and unfortunately, or fortunately for me, I didn’t get anything on it. The next ball, another cross-seamer, and with a bit more behind it, picked up our second wicket and an important one for us if we were to defend this total.

New batter and I went to length first ball, left alone, a slower ball same length next, defended to the off side. My third ball was an effort ball which I was aiming for length hoping to squeeze out another dot. This one kicked really nicely off a length and grabbed an edge through to Niko behind the stumps. A ball that I wish would come out more often, one of those where you’re just happy that you bowled it and not having to face it.

I bowled one more over in the spell, my third and last ball - a short one that I was planning for a dot was pulled out to square leg and taken by White. That was the set Croft gone - 58 for 4 and we were sitting in a good position but it wasn’t over yet.

Laxman and Chilton, the fifth-wicket partnership, dragged Lancashire back into the match and if they had won, this fight would have been where the game changed. Our catching had been great but our ground fielding hadn’t, and in this stand we let at least three balls get to the fence that should have been stopped.

Our catching stayed fantastic, Dips taking a great catch to remove VVS and breaking that partnership.

We bowled well through the middle with Claude and White going for just five runs each off their fourth and third overs respectively, and picking up two and one a piece.

This left 32 off three and I had one of those overs to bowl. Nine off the 18th and I came on with 23 from two with three wickets in hand. My over went for six and I picked up my fifth wicket, my best haul in a Twenty20 game, one pretty happy boy!

Seventeen off the last and a six off the first ball is not what you want. AJ had his first wicket next ball though, with White’s third catch, at long-on. Anything could still happen here, it only takes one big shot, one edge, to turn things on its head. A dot ball then a two which could have been a run out had my throw hit from long on. Nine off two and as long as this one doesn’t go to the fence we should be fine. It comes to me at long-on and I’m in two minds; run in hard for the catch and finish the match while taking the risk of making a mess and conceding more runs, or take it on the bounce and keep them to one, knowing they can’t score eight off one ball. I took the catch, comfortably in the end and finished it. A very good win for us and it sets up a good week of Twenty20 cricket when we play tomorrow at Trent Bridge.

Get updates on when I put a blog up by adding me on ‘twitter’. iainobrien is who you need to search for. You’ll get other little tidbits on what I’m up to there too....

It’s Friday night and I’m knackered. After playing on Tuesday for Leicestershire against Nottingham, travelling here to just outside of Oxford to join the training camp for the World Twenty20 and training hard the last couple of days, the last thing I could think of is a Friday night out on the juice; well not quite, I could actually go a couple, but they won’t be good for me, so I’ll give them a miss.

Tuesday’s match result did not matter for us in terms of progressing in the FPT competition. We were already out of contention for the semis. Of course we were out there to win, and to do our best to win but it was also a chance to change the team up a little and give a couple of guys a game in either different positions or just be playing. This was my first game back after getting hit in the ribs 10 days ago. I had had a really good bowl in the nets the previous day, which was my first bowl back, and I was surprised at how good I felt and how pain free I was while bowling; that doesn’t happen very often!! Straightaway I felt good at the crease and had that sometimes illusive rhythm. I passed myself fit for next day’s game and was really looking forward to getting back out and playing.

Weather was not forecasted great for the game and it kept its promise. Rain came in a couple of times and eventually finished Notts’ innings at about the 36 over mark. The rain kept coming in and only left time for a ten-over chase, and we were set 77 for a win. We didn’t quite get there after losing a couple of wickets close together in the middle of the chase. It wasn’t to be today and there was that too familiar feeling of a loss.

I bowled 6.3 overs for around 30 which I was reasonably happy with. My first two overs I felt really good, bowled well and tied them down nicely. My next two I tried to bowl a little too fast, I was just so excited to be back out on the park, fit, and feeling good and I got a little carried away. I pulled it back in the last two overs of my spell and picked up a wicket in a maiden over and then my next only went for one. A good finish to my first match and spell back and I could now head off to this training camp with confidence that I am both fit and feeling good with my bowling.

Our training base is at a ground called Wormsley, it’s the late Sir John Paul Getty’s ex-residence. He decided he wanted a cricket ground in his premises, so he built one. It’s a really beautiful ground with great on and off-field facilities and it’s been a treat to train and play here. I’ll add some photos tomorrow hopefully....

Since I joined up we haven’t been in the nets, we’ve been out in the middle going through game situations with proper fields, full intensity bowling and some very, very big hits. The boys have obviously been training hard back in New Zealand before getting here, and in the couple of days they got here before I joined up. It has been an impressive start to the World Twenty20 campaign.

Tomorrow will be another tough day with morning and afternoon sessions out in the middle. I was tired after this afternoon session but after a swim back at the hotel and a good meal I am looking forward to getting back out there and training hard.

We played a game yesterday afternoon as part of our preparation. We played against the New Zealand Cricket Club; New Zealanders living in London who ‘wander’ around the south-east playing around 20 fixtures a year. They were never going to be strong opponents but it was still good match practice none the less. Guppy shone in this match scoring a spectacular 101 off 53 balls with some massive hits included; a treat to watch. I was pretty happy with four overs for 18 and picking up a cheeky wicket too.

So, onwards we head towards the World Cup. Franky joined us today from Gloucestershire and a couple of the IPL boys turn up tomorrow. It’ll be good to get everyone here and firing over the next few days.

	The rhythm was back while bowling in the first innings against Gloucestershire © Getty Images

I’ve got a bit of time on my hands at the moment. Playing for Leicestershire in the most recent Championship match (four-day) I got hit in the ribs while batting in the second innings. I’ll come to that in a bit.

So, so far over here I haven’t done as well as I’d have hoped. In my first couple of matches my action wasn’t really there and had to do some work on it during a training session that I managed to squeeze in before this Championship match. I had a good little bowl out in the middle in training, slowed everything down and just concentrated on a strong load-up and release. My run-up rhythm came quickly and then all of a sudden I was hitting the catcher’s glove hard from a nice length. It had come back to me and I had learnt some more about where my action needs to be and how to get it there when it falls over.

We turned up to the ground in Bristol, where Gloucestershire are based, to a pleasant surprise. I had been told of the cold and somewhat dank changing rooms that were on offer there; we were very happy to get use of the new changing rooms. They were fantastic, comfortable and easily a large enough area for an international team; a couple of very good baths for either hot or cold baths. Nice work Glos!

The pitch looked like something I wanted to bowl on and was really impressed with our openers getting through the morning session without loss; a great job by these two. Unfortunately it didn’t quite continue. We lost eight wickets around the 80-90 mark and scratched through to 133. After such a great opening partnership we didn’t do well enough after that. I was pretty happy with my 23 and got through some tough stuff too.

I was looking forward to bowling on this deck; I had watched the Glos bowlers get some pace, bounce and a little movement; a couple of things that I don’t mind. I bowled well, I was really happy with how it came out and the lengths I was hitting. Of course, as normal, I was trying to bowl a touch fuller than my natural lengths are, not quite hitting it, but still making them play, and miss, in areas I want them to be playing in. It was what I needed to be doing after an average couple of weeks here at the start.

I got through 32 overs and ended up with two wickets. I feel that on another day it could have been maybe six or seven. I have certainly bowled worse and had more wickets. Thirty-two overs is quite a few but I felt really good, when you bowl well the body is generally doing the things it should be and body parts don’t hurt as much. It’s when you don’t bowl well that the body hurts as the sequences are out and you end up muscling rather than using rhythm to get it in the right place. Of course the baths were used for both hot and colds as I’m always trying my best to keep the body right for the next day.

Second-innings batting and we’re 260 behind. A tough ask to save this one if the weather doesn’t interfere. It didn’t, and we ended up getting 71 in front and Glos knocked it off without loss; a ten-wicket defeat. It was a pretty good effort to make 331 with a couple of lads getting some real good scores without going on to make them special. Always need guys to make scores special as they can be the winning, or saving, of a match.

I got 31 in the second innings in a partnership of 55 with Carl Crowe. I earned every one of that 31 in this innings. I got a pounding from Steve Kirby from over and mostly around the wicket. Mostly I feel I played him quite well, he was quick and aggressive. I have had a lot of short stuff since the Gabba Test in Australia and am getting better at facing it. As I’ve said if I can get under a bouncer early I generally get under the rest. I couldn’t pick up (see) Kirby as well as I have picked others in the past and it was tough. It took a lot of mental effort to try not to back away and just slog. I tried as hard as I could to stay in line and play as solidly as I could and in that effort I got pinned by stepping out of my game plan. I had a pull shot that I stepped away from and opened up my right side, the ball went thud and I knew I was in trouble.

I tried to warm up to bowl during the change of innings but just could not get through any part of my action without it hurting. Lots. So I sat in the changing room with ice on my side. I had thought earlier in the day that if we got 150 in front we had a chance of winning. Not to be and a couple of games on the bench for me.

Because I know you all care ... The ribs are coming along okay, a lot better over the last couple of days that it was in the first two. I had a good work-out in the gym this morning with Suzie, our Leicestershire trainer. I couldn’t do everything I would do normally but got through some good stuff and will get back in there tomorrow to do more.

Some people have asked why I’m not off playing in the IPL. Well, cause I’m here playing for Leicestershire. I got asked to play during the India series but as I had already signed for Leicestershire I couldn’t take up the offer. I just spoke to Graham Napier, who’s just been selected in the England World T20 team and has been a team-mate of mine at Wellington; he said he had a great time with his team Mumbai Indians and throughout his time in the tournament. Hopefully next time it comes around I’ll get a chance to play as it looks and sounds like a great tournament to be a part of.

Well, it’s cold here right now. I’m at home in England, on the couch about to pack and drive to Bristol for the start of tomorrow’s Championship match vs Gloucestershire. I’ve been over here for two weeks now after a few extra days back in New Zealand waiting on my passport to come back with a visa entry stamp in it to come and play for Leicestershire.

I must, again, thank the good guys at Post Haste for helping me out a whole heap. My passport had to go to Canberra, Australia, to get the visa. I knew that as soon as it came back into NZ on its way back to me the ‘track and trace’ number that I could watch online would be activated. So as soon as it landed and was in the Post Haste system, I was on to them to get it to me ASAP. The last week I was back in NZ I was never far from a computer so that I could check to see if it had got back to Auckland on its way back to me in Wellington. I had also been changing my flights, almost every day, hoping the passport would turn up. So, at 3.45pm, a couple of Tuesdays ago, I saw, online, my passport had reached Auckland. If I was to get out that day I would need to:

a) somehow pick it up in Auckland as it wasn’t going to make it to Wellington in time
b) change my flight and hope that there was a seat available.

So that was one nervous, stressful and in the end a successful afternoon. Flights changed, that was the easy bit. Picking up the passport that was going to take some magic, and somehow the planets aligned and it worked out! Again, Post Haste, Jimmy Sales, Phil and the others who helped out, an massive thank you from me and of course my wife.

So, I’m here now and have played three one day matches and one Championship match for Leicestershire. The schedule is pretty tight and time off between games isn’t as much as we would get at home in our domestic season.

We haven’t had a great start to the season with our first win only coming yesterday against Ireland in the Friends Provident Trophy. So far I haven’t really succeeded as I would have hoped to in the competition. I had two weeks off in NZ before getting here and really enjoyed doing very little and letting the body have its rest. I am a bowler who bowls best when I’ve been bowling and bowling. So I was in a catch 22 situation. I needed the rest but I also needed to keep bowling to hit the ground running here. I was hopeful that I could get into the groove over here after a couple of training sessions and find my form quickly. I haven’t, unfortunately, and last week’s Championship match at Southgate vs Middlesex was not my best showing, at all.

Yesterday was better, the action is almost back to where it should be, and the adjustment of lengths to bowl on slower and lower pitches has been the tougher part. Coming from a Test series on some good Test pitches to county cricket early in the season on low and slow decks has been a little frustrating. But I have to get on and do my job, learn, adjust and get some wickets for the team.

So far the weather has been pretty good; although, as I said, it’s rather cold and wet today. The decision to take the IPL to South Africa looks to be a good one, apart from the early few games that were rain affected and the weather here, in the UK, was outstanding. I’ve been trying to keep up with the results and how the NZ boys have been going, but as I don’t have the channel they are being shown on, I don’t get to watch much of the footage. So it’s Cricinfo for the match reports and live scorecards. It’s a tight competition and some upsets have been played out right the way through. I’m looking forward to catching up with the guys once they get over here for the Twenty20 World Cup to hear how this one has been.

Right then, time to pack the bags, pick up a couple of lads and get on the road to Bristol. I’ll be back in a couple of days with another update.

And so that you’re in the loop... look out for iainobrien.co.nz very soon, and get in touch if you want to get your company’s logo and link on the page.